Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126256
IAbove) Pomeroy on hi. Bultaco In e 1975 Trens·AMA race, where hi. luck we. better than In 1978. IBelow l The high po int of the 1975 .ee.on we. en overe" win of the Belglen 250 Grend Prix.The Ameriean"Cowboy': alreedy had fan club. In Belgium end those aren't tee.. the Champion .perk plug hoste.. I. w iping from J im'. feee. It'. whetever we. on the ground In Claude Jobe'. pesture, site of thst yeer'. GP. .1-0 0.. < Jim Pomeroy. wants to be the best in the world... / but he wants to make motocross . e t t e r , too. b By Jim Gianatsis t seems that J im Pom eroy 's career has come f ull circle . Afte r f our grueling years on the arduous Europ ean W orld Cham - I pionship Grand Prix circuit he has retu rn ed home to America. "Bimbo" has traveled down that motocrosser's ye llow brick road 10 th e go lden city of Oz, go tten involved in a lot of ad vent ures, and returned . H e fa red t he advent ure bell er th an anyone else so f ar, selling fastest lap times at almost every course on th e 250cc GP circuit . Pom eroy won t wo Wor~d Cham pionship races, bu t in a fo ur year p eriod th ose Uiere hardly as many as he want ed to win. No w Pom eroy is back racing in t he Unit ed Stat es. And he isn 't racing f or Bulta co, but fo r H onda . T he _perenn ial love/hat e relationship which had lasted betw een Pom eroy and th e Spa nish marque for so long has finally com ~ to an end . T here are many applicable qu estions: What hap p en ed betw een Pom eroy and Bultaco? Why did he choose Honda? Wh y is he racing in America when he had oth er of ersfo r Eu rope? f Th e only p erson who could provide the answ ers was J im Pomeroy. We ta lk ed toge ther for Cycle News during th e we ekend of th e Dallas Supermudocross. H e and his new RC type II B Hondas were quickly becoming close friends, and if it wasn 't for some kid na m ed Hannah, the European GP winner might have been playing a starring role in th e Supercross Series - th e points lead in th e Supercross Series already had shrunk. Bef ore we bega n talk ing about the pr esent and f ut ure ofJim . Pomeroy, it seem ed p ertin ent to ask abo ut th e past. Th e first qu estion - what did he learn f rom racing in Europe? " I don 't regret goi ng over ' there at all ," said Pomero y. " In th e tim e I was ther e I learned a lot throu g h th ose peop le . because a t the time Am ericans d idn't ha ve th e know ledge or experien ce that th e Europeans h ad . I fel t I go t a lot more exper ience . q uic ker , bein g over there . " I didn't like Eu rope as far as the day to day ro uti ne , every day living th ings. T hey don't have the faciliti es or luxuries we hav e in Am erica. As far as th e professional mot ocross thing , I made the right cho ice . It 's hard - I like Am eri ca so much better. Now you've got Am ericans go ing as fas t as me or anyon e else . .' . th ey're just not as consistent, m aybe . Now an American can st art ra cing and get fast , q uick . Four or five yea rs ago he cou ld n't because that's when we were being la pped two or three tim es. I needed 10 be over with th e Europeans at that time to be ab le to develop m y skills quicker. If I had stayed over here I don't th ink I woul d have developed as quickly. .. . I asked J im to fill us in a little on his past racing history. Would 1977 be his first full year on the AMA National circuit? "In 1972 I followed the whole circuit. but that was before th ey even had Nationals. The only thing they had wer e the Inter-Am Series, the Trans-Am Seri es. and a U .5 _ Cup Series. I raced all of those a nd was consid ered fourth-ranked in th e country. The next yea r out . 1973 . th e AMA held its first Nationals. b u t I never ra ced one of them . All the tim e I rode Bu lta cos. "My fir st G rand Prix win was in 1973 in Spain. Then I won aga in in Belgi um in 1975. I missed a yea r witho u t winning overall . though I won motos. I won m ot os every year. Now they don't even count o ver a ll wins any m ore for the World Championshi p. It 's each m ot o by moto, eac h one individual points." During th e fo ur years which Pomeroy raced in Europe as Bultaco's top fa ctory rid er in t he 250cc Grands Prix , h e f ac ed on e frustration aft er another. H e should have won more races than he did, and perhaps even the World Championship. B ut at almo st every race his bik e broke in on e moto or both , or suffered som e sort of m echa nic al pro blem which wou ld fo rce Pomeroy to slow down. Bultaco gave Pomeroy t wo mechanics - R ub io Flores and Arne Beama n - to try an d keep th e bik es running, but even they couldn 't be God to a 5